Mentoring Studio Needs Support

Many of you know me - some for many years, some for my entire life. Some of you may only know me on social media. I hope all of you will read this with an open mind and understanding heart as I am am trying to sustain and continue to build on something great. Those who know me will confirm I would never reach out like this unless my belief was pure and heartfelt. Those who do not know me well will hopefully and quickly learn my true nature. I would like to thank you for patiently reading to fully understand the purpose of my campaign...

By way of formal introduction, my name is Bryon Turcotte - I am a musician, a writer, an experienced creative professional, an enthusiastic mentor, a producer of music and video, and a passionate artist advocate. I am also the proud owner and operator of Uncle Brown's Sound , a small live performance, writing and recording studio in Broken Arrow,  Oklahoma. This studio's primary functions include mentoring, creativity, free thinking, and empowering communication.

Until this month, a portion of the salary I earned from my full-time (oil industry) career had been contributing to the studio's rent and utilities - but on January 7th my position fell victim to a company wide layoff due to the recent downturn in the industry. I walked into my Tulsa office at 7:00am that morning learning by 7:10am that I was one of the nation's unemployed. Now I am not only struggling to find work to support my home, wife and family, I am in fear of losing something that I have recently found, wanted and believed in as long as I can remember.

I am trying to raise enough funding to keep the studio open (to only pay monthly rent and utilities) for the maximum length of one year and allow my young clients and students to continue working creating and growing without interuption. Most importantly, by February 15th, I will need to raise a minimum of $550.00 - and continue to raise this amount each month to pay rent and utilities so I can continue to open the doors, turn on the lights and let my clients in to write, perform and create. This will also allow me to continue to search for and secure new employment, (not knowing how long it will be) get back on my feet, and hopefully begin to support my family again while still keeping this dream alive without worrying about closing the studio each month...and breaking the creative stride of the artists.

The most important reason for keeping Uncle Brown's Sound alive is the overall spirit and energy that exists between it's walls. This studio has become a safe place for these artists - who have all had less than positive experiences in the music industry and with other studios in general. It is more than a recording studio or a business where I charge a (very small) fee to perform a service. I never started this to become rich or famous. I started this to do good work and help young artists pull out truth, passion and creativity from their soul without making them into something they are not. I want them to have a place to go where they feel at home and in no rush to create the perfect song or sound.

Anyone who has ever met or worked with me will confirm that it has been my lifelong passion and dream of having my own recording studio. They will also confirm how important the music and the creative process is to me. I want others to feel the same way as I do about music, how you listen to it and how you capture it's truth. All I want to do is pass this passion on and see how happy it makes others feel. This is my true reward, beyond any payment I could receive. Since I was a young boy I wanted to not only make music, I dreamt of helping others make the music they hear in their heads and feel in their hearts. I not only admired the great songwriters and composers of every genre for what they had given to me and the world, I truly loved those men and women who's ears, hands, visions, and passions help these artists bring their ideas to brilliant reality.

I spent my life listening to music, learning about it's function and form - by playing in bands, working with all types of musicians and experimenting with sound. I studied all the great audio masters - from Les Paul to George Martin to Brian Wilson to Steve Albini - those who I adopted as my virtual mentors and created my own philosophy about how to create and record music and sound.

Throughout my life I've built recording studios everywhere I've lived - in every apartment, house and basement - just so I could record music and capture history. As I grew, I learned how important it is to maintain the integrity of the artist's creation and to not try to make them or their music something other than what it was born to be. I made it my goal to someday create a place where artists can come to not only record...but write, collaborate, empower, inspire, feel, and be free to be artists and have mentors to teach them the meaning of being true creative people.

In the middle of 2015, I was exposed to an opportunity which was to good to pass. My wife and stepson found a property in our town where they could run their small business. In the back portion of this building was a space which proved to be the fullfillment of my lifelong dream of a recording studio.

In August of 2015, with a lot of sweat, hard work, long nights, paint, construction, and the purchase of some great vintage, used and bargain new equipment, Uncle Brown's Sound was finished and ready to be used to capture creativity. We have a handful of extremely talented, young artists  who come in each week to write, share ideas, talk about their passions, feel, create and record. We are a creative artist's collective  which we strive to build on with each new artist that walks through our doors. 

At this point in my life, keeping Uncle Brown's Sound open is not important only because I want to keep alive a 40 year old dream that just came true for me. It is much more than that. If that is all it is I would just shut the doors, sell all the gear and take the failure. I'm 50 years old - I have felt failure, disappointment and broken dreams many times before. This is not about my success. This is about helping those who might not have been given the chance to write, record or collaborate some hope. This is about passing on something priceless to young, gifted, enthusiastic artists that may have only one chance to be allowed to find their voice in a safe, creative space.

I want Uncle Brown's Sound to be that place. I want it to be that first sturdy rock they step on to get to the other side of the river. I want them to have a place they can go knowing they will always have the right and ability to be themselves. Maybe be someday - instead of donating to keep this studio alive - we can work together to raise money for singing lessons, music education, production classes or helping a young musician pay their bills. I want to stay alive so we at UBS can do this some day. Helping this small, simple space survive would mean everything to me but more importantly would give more than everything to them for longer than I will be alive.

That is my biggest reward. To all the artists, musicians and lovers of creativity - I hope your small investment of help will be a reward for you as well.

Thank You.

BT